Brad Who?
Brad Richards. A 32 year old from Murray Harbour, Prince Edward Island. He wears the same number that many hockey legends have worn before him: number 19. An alternate captain for the big time New York Rangers. A Stanley Cup champion; also a Conn Smythe and Lady Byng award winner. Stands at 6’0”, 198lbs; his play on the ice is even bigger. A quiet personality, a shy smile and often a man left with nothing to say in front of the big league cameras. A man often forgotten among the young stars, and the charming, camera loving personalities found in many dressing rooms around the league. But with 6.6 seconds left in a crucial playoff game, Brad Richards reminds a nation just what his name is.
One can imagine just how hard it is to make a name for yourself in the overflowing ocean of talent found in the National Hockey League. If you’re a quiet kid from the smallest Canadian province, making a name for yourself can almost seem like double the challenge. Brad Richards was drafted 64th overall in 1998 by the Tampa Bay Lightning; his draft position almost foreshadowing his career to follow: talented enough to be given a shot, but not quite recognizable enough to be picked with the top guns. One, however, could only ask why? Why is the solid number 19 so often forgotten among the stars of the National Hockey League?
It took Richards just four years to accomplish what most fail to do throughout their entire playing career. Richards finished his NHL rookie and sophmore seasons with 62 points, a solid statement of what the young Bolt was ready to bring to the game. Fast forwarding to 2003-04, Richards’s fourth professional season and a season that saw the PEI-native flourish with 79 points in 82 games - a tremendous accomplishment. But it only got better. Richards and company brought the Tampa Bay Lightning all the way to a Stanley Cup win, defeating Jarome Iginla and the Calgary Flames. Richards would be awarded the Conn Smythe trophy, given to the most valuable player in the playoffs, and the Lady Byng trophy, awarded to the most sportsmanlike player.
It didn’t stop there, instead, number 19 only got hotter with each taste of success. After the lockout, the 2005-06 season brought Richards 91 points in 82 games, numbers that most National Hockey League players dream about.
Richards would continue to play for the Lightning up until 2008, where he would then be traded to the Dallas Stars. The first few seasons with the Stars left Richards haulted with injury problems, something that seemed almost impossible for a man who is usually found in every game of the 82-game-long season. Nevertheless, in the 2009-10 season, Richards was back and back with a vegence, reproducing the same 91 points but in just 80 games this time.
Brad Richards eventually found his way to the big city of New York, signing a big time contract with the Rangers in 2011-12. Bringing us, of course, to the now. The now that saw a modern day Brad Richards, with just as much fire (and a bit more poise), tie up a Game Five versus the Washington Capitals with just 6.6 seconds left. The emotional celebration gave way to shivers, goose bumps and uncontrollable fist-pumping for anyone watching. The Rangers went on to win the game with a Marc Staal shot from the point, taking the 3-2 series lead.
Highlight reels and newspaper headlines will surely be marked with the solid Rangers play, and the Staal game winner… but what about Brad? What about Brad Richards? It is almost heart-wrenching to think that a player who is often so clutch, so solid, so unbelievably talented and so very significant to any team he belongs to is so quickly passed over. Nevertheless, one can only think that the quiet guy from Murray Harbour wouldn’t have it any other way. He does his job afterall; he competes with the best, is nothing but a major asset for his team and only desires one thing: winning. He doesn’t need his name to be printed all over hockey’s intense media to let people know just how talented he truly is. Instead, his play does the talking, and mentioned often or not, Brad Richards has, without a doubt, made a name for himself. Something anyone should be proud of, especially the 64th draft pick from way out East.
